Political Commentary & Opinion
Analysis, commentary, and opinion essays on politics and policy from The Daily Signal’s contributors and experts.
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opinion
Why Harvard Is Not a Model for Responsible College Curricula
If the price of milk increased at the same rate as public university tuition, today a gallon would cost $14.72. To put this into perspective, the cost of public higher education rose an astounding 538 percent between 1985 and 2013, while health care costs rose 286 percent. If milk actually reached this price, parents would… -
opinion
Why Delaying the Cadillac Tax Is the Wrong Approach for the Tax Extenders
Congress appears to be looking at a scaled back two-year extension of all the policies in the tax extenders, rather than the bigger deal that was being discussed. However, the two-year straight extension would be augmented by a two-year delay of the start of the Cadillac tax on high-cost health insurance plans. The Cadillac tax… -
opinion
Fired for Refusing to Call a Biological Girl a Boy, This Teacher Is Claiming Religious Discrimination
This fall a, teacher was fired in Texas for not referring to a 6-year-old girl as a boy. Madeline Kirksey was, until recently, a manager at Children’s Lighthouse Learning Center on Clay Road in Katy, Texas, a town just to the west of Houston. One girl had been attending the school for several months. After… -
opinion
End Wind Welfare
Unnecessary government subsidies promote inefficiency, limit competition, and cost taxpayers more than they get in return. A prime example is the wind energy Production Tax Credit, or PTC. While this wasteful tax credit is currently expired, President Barack Obama wants to revive the PTC and make it a central component of his harmful “Clean Power… -
news
See How Sen. Jeff Flake Thinks Your Tax Dollars Were Wasted on These 100 Government Programs
As Congress presses further into its annual December budget battle, Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., launched the latest campaign in what he calls his ongoing war on waste. With the timely title “The Farce Awakens,” Flake’s 2015 Wastebook highlights 100 government programs of questionable merit—such as the millions in taxpayer dollars spent on sheep in microgravity, monkeys… -
opinion
A Framework for a Global Warming Treaty Remains Unworkable (Thank Goodness)
PARIS—Proponents of an international global warming treaty are optimistic that this final week in Paris will generate an ambitious, legally binding treaty, with lots of cash flowing from the developed world to developing ones. History, however, shows that the framework for international global warming summits is unworkable. The past several years have seen successive annual… -
opinion
Paris Conference Leaders Want You to Think the Planet Is Facing a Climate Change Crisis. That’s Not True.
PARIS—Leaders from around the world, including President Barack Obama, have been saying that the COP21, also known as the Paris climate conference, is the last best hope to save the planet from catastrophic warming. Evidence and observed data, however, suggest otherwise. History shows us that this isn’t the only time international leaders have cried that… -
opinion
America Does Not Have an Islamophobia Problem
At his national address Sunday night, President Barack Obama lectured Americans at length on the evils of Islamophobia. That is a lofty sentiment, no doubt, but the harangue did strike many as disproportionate. After all, on this score Americans can already be rightly proud. Despite 9/11; two long and grinding wars against two Muslim countries;… -
opinion
How Not to Stop a Terrorist Attack
Americans should not be surprised by the terrorist attack that took place in San Bernardino, Calif. Terrorists have used mass shootings as a tactic long before Paris, and we have been targets for quite some time. Nor—should Americans be surprised by the plethora of thoughtless responses offered in the wake of unspeakable acts of terror…. -
news
How Much Land Near You Does the Federal Government Control? Use This Map to Find Out
The federal government is looking to use the budget process to expand its ownership of land across the United States despite already owning three of every 10 acres, Rep. Louie Gohmert warned Monday. Gohmert, R-Texas, said the government’s “massive” control over land has preserved less than 1 percent of endangered species and instead harmed individuals… -
opinion
San Bernardino Is 75th Terror Plot in US Since 2001. Here’s an Interactive Timeline.
The attack in San Bernardino, Calif. earlier this month is now the 75th Islamist-inspired terrorist attack or plot in the U.S., according to The Heritage Foundation’s timeline of Islamists plots. The timeline highlights the continued domestic and international threat Islamists have on our national security. U.S. citizen Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik,… -
news
Sen. Ben Sasse: ‘We Are Most Certainly … at War With Militant Islam’
Hours after President Barack Obama addressed the nation about the war on terror, a junior Republican senator from Nebraska issued a pointed video rebuttal, arguing that Washington, D.C., “should tell the truth about the enemy we face.” “[W]e should tell the truth about the enemy we face, we should tell the truth about them, but… -
news
Has the French President’s Call to Arms Against ISIS Fizzled?
PARIS—After the bloody terrorist attacks in Paris on Nov. 13, French President François Hollande declared war on the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. But although he employed tougher rhetoric, Hollande didn't necessarily make an about-face in French counterterrorism policy. “The objective is clear: Daesh must be destroyed,” Hollande told his Defense Council the day after the attacks, using a… -
opinion
Pearl Harbor Day: Remembering the ‘Unbounding Determination’ of the American People
Today marks the 74th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which President Franklin D. Roosevelt famously called “a date which will live in infamy.” On this day, we should remember the resolve that our military and the American citizens displayed to the world in response to this attack. The surprise attack killed over… -
news
White House Issues Correction to Obama’s Terrorism Speech
In his Oval Office address to the nation Sunday night, President Obama incorrectly claimed that one of the San Bernardino terrorists arrived in the United States under the visa waiver program. The White House acknowledged the mistake shortly after the speech. White House issues correction to Obama's speech tonight pic.twitter.com/EgIBgVIKBR — Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) December… -
news
This Counterterrorism Expert Says US Must Treat Terrorism as ‘War’ Rather Than ‘Crime’
The Obama administration has “downplayed” the terrorism threat faced by the U.S., leaving law enforcement unprepared and inadequately trained, an expert in counterterrorism said at a Washington panel two days after the massacre in San Bernardino, Calif. “The terrorism that’s going on now in this country, this is war. This is not crime,” Katharine Gorka,… -
news
Citing ‘Radical Killers,’ Police Group Throws Flag on NFL’s Ban on ‘Concealed Carry’ at Games
The NFL’s ban on fans carrying concealed firearms has undergone new criticism in the weeks after the terrorist attacks in Paris, which included an attempted bombing of a soccer stadium. One of the nation’s largest organizations of police officers put its weight behind lifting the ban. Chuck Canterbury, national president of the Fraternal Order of Police, requested that… -
news
This Veteran Faced Life in Prison for One Nonviolent Crime. After 19 Years, He’s Free.
NEWBERRY, S.C.—Douglas Lindsay was supposed to serve life in prison for a first-time, nonviolent drug crime. But in July, after 19 years, Lindsay was one of 46 federal inmates to be granted clemency by President Barack Obama. Last year, as a component of his push for criminal justice reform, Obama announced he would grant clemency… -
news
Clinical Psychologist Turned Congressman Prescribes Mental Health Fix to Prevent Mass Shootings
Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., thinks he has a solution for much of the surge in mass shootings. Rather than reacting with new gun control measures, Murphy proposes to overhaul the nation’s mental health system to get at what he believes is the root of the violence. Recent mass murders have given that reform effort traction…. -
opinion
The Islamic State’s Genocide of Christians
Reports that the White House will declare that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has committed genocide against Iraqi Yazidis, but not against Christians, are of grave concern. Omitting Christians would be a strategic mistake, because ISIS’ spiritual legitimacy depends on their promise to cleanse the “caliphate” of infidel Christians. The U.S. must…